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Adani’s claim of creating up to 10,000 new jobs at its $16 billion Carmichael coal project in Queensland has been derided by public interest group Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), which has written a letter of complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on behalf of a union for unemployed workers.

Representatives of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union (AUWU), including volunteer coordinator Chris McCoomb of Townsville, Queensland, have suggested Adani’s job creation claims are unrealistic, citing evidence from a critical Queensland Land Court that says the figure would be closer to just under 1500 jobs in reality.

“Unemployed people are spending their meagre savings on training courses for jobs that don’t exist now, and may never exist,” said McCoomb.

EJA’s letter to the ACCC says that Adani’s oft-repeated claims of 10,000 jobs (with examples from several quotes and sources cited in the letter) are “misleading or deceptive in our view”.

“Adani’s own economic expert, Dr Fahrer, gave evidence that acknowledged that the methodology employed to conclude that 10,000 jobs would be created was deficient and an alternative model was more appropriate,” the letter said.

The group also points out that since the project will rely heavily on automation, this further throws the claim of 10,000 jobs into question.